Napheesa Collier vs Alyssa Thomas: WNBA Playoffs stats, records and more ahead of 2024 semis clash

Napheesa Collier’s Minnesota Lynx and Alyssa Thomas’ Connecticut Sun will face off in the semifinals of the 2024 WNBA Playoffs. The best-of-five series starts Sunday in Minneapolis as the Lynx have home-court advantage. The two forwards will be key players for their respective teams and their bids to reach the finals.

Both Minnesota and Connecticut are coming off of convincing 2-0 wins in the first round against the Phoenix Mercury and Indiana Fever, respectively. Collier and Thomas played crucial roles in the first round and that is expected to continue in the semis.

Napheesa Collier vs Alyssa Thomas playoff stats and records

While Alyssa Thomas might no longer be the player she once was, her postseason experience makes up for it. She has appeared in a total of 41 WNBA Playoffs games, while Napheesa Collier has played in just 10.

Even though Thomas’ WNBA journey started in 2014, her first playoff appearance came only in 2017. However, she and the Sun have consistently been a part of the postseason ever since. Of the 41 games Thomas has been a part of, she started 37 of them.

Collier was drafted sixth by Minnesota in 2019. She has appeared in only 10 playoff games so far and has started all of them. However, she averages more points than Thomas and has better shooting numbers as well.

Below is a breakdown of their career playoff stats:

	G	MP	FG%	3P%	PTS	AST	REB	BLK	STL
Napheesa Collier	10	35.8	51.3	51.7	20.2	2.6	8.0	1.6	0.9
Alyssa Thomas	41	34.0	49.5	0.0	15.2	6.3	8.5	0.4	1.7

Napheesa Collier vs Alyssa Thomas 2024 season stats

Collier had a stellar regular season and was one of the key reasons behind Minnesota Lynx securing the second seed with a 30-10 record. She averaged 20.4 points per game and had career highs in rebounds (9.7), assists (3.4), steals (1.9) and blocks (1.4). She shot 49.2%, including 31.0% from beyond the arc.

In the two 2024 WNBA Playoffs games so far, she averages a staggering 40.0 points on 64.1% shooting, including 62.5% from the 3-point line. She also averages 5.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 blocks.

While Thomas’ season numbers dropped in comparison to the past few years, she still averaged a healthy 10.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, 7.9 assists and 1.6 steals, as the Sun finished third with a 28-12 record. Her production increased in the two postseason games, though, with averages of 15.5 points, 13.0 assists and 7.5 rebounds.

Overall, this should be a key matchup that has the power to decide the fate of the series. While Napheesa Collier is expected to be the more dominant scorer, Alyssa Thomas is the better playmaker.